Joseph Parker might have to wait for a shot at the world heavyweight title – despite stretching his winning run with a crushing knockout of late replacement Martin Bakole in Riyadh at the weekend.
Parker, who had been set to face IBF champion Daniel Dubois, strengthened his case for a bout with unified champion Oleksandr Usyk by making short work of Bakole with a second-round stoppage at Kingdom Arena.
Usyk, who was sat ringside, said last week that he only has two fights left before retirement, with both set to take place on Riyadh Season cards. The first could be booked for May.
In theory, Parker’s latest impressive display should push him to the front of the queue. “How can I fight for the world title next?” he asked in the ring after his victory. “If Usyk wants a dance partner, I want to fight for a world title. I want to be champion of the world again.”
Usyk, however, says a second fight with Dubois is his priority. “I think it's Dubois,” he said on Saturday when asked about his next fight. “I don't know [when]. I'm ready, I'm ready. For two, three weeks I was in Kyiv, then I go to my camp.”
While Usyk has a warm relationship with most of his past opponents – a fact illustrated by his friendly embraces with Anthony Joshua in Riyadh – there is more enmity with Dubois, who withdrew from the Parker bout after falling ill during fight week.
Usyk stopped Dubois in nine rounds in 2022 but not before the Briton had folded him with a heavy shot which was then ruled low by the referee.
Usyk recovered to claim victory, but Dubois maintains he was cheated. The 27-year-old then irked Usyk further by gatecrashing his celebrations with a bungled call out in the aftermath of the Ukrainian's December victory over Tyson Fury. “I thought, 'What are you doing here? This is my place',” Usyk said of Dubois’ awkward intervention.
Should that rematch gain momentum then it would come as a blow to Parker and leave him unsure of his next step – whether to wait it out as a logical next opponent for the winner, or to roll the dice again.
Staying active and taking on big challenges has certainly helped reinvigorate his career in the past 18 months.
Agit Kabayel, an impressive winner against Zhilei Zhang at the weekend, is another contender putting together an impressive body of work and would surely welcome the challenge of facing the resurgent New Zealander.
And what about Joshua? The former two-time champion is another unsure of his next move after a heavy defeat to Dubois and the sudden, albeit perhaps temporary, retirement of Fury. Could we yet see him attempt another rebuild, or will he sit on the sidelines hoping for a pension-feathering golden handshake bout against Fury?
One man who does know his next move is Bakole, who will stick to a planned fight with the Nigerian Efe Ajagba later this year.
It emerged after Saturday’s loss that Bakole had only arrived in Saudi on the day of the fight, had not been in training for several months and weighed 315 pounds – 30 pounds heavier than when he knocked out Jared Anderson last August.
An unexpected payday and the good graces of Turki Alalshikh, the Saudi boxing power broker, were gained at the cost of a guaranteed defeat and the end of a 10-fight winning streak.
Contrived Benn v Eubank rivalry hits new low
The next major Saudi-backed card in the calendar is slated for April 26 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London when Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn will finally hear the opening bell.
Benn’s multiple failed drug tests have so far prevented this confected feud from being settled, but efforts to turn it into a major event escalated this week when Eubank cracked an egg on Benn’s head at a press conference.
While their fathers shared a famous and ferocious rivalry as middleweights in the 1990s, there has been very little public appetite for this clash of British boxing nepo babies.
Benn’s popularity continues to plummet after his once promising career was derailed by failed tests for the female fertility drug clomifene, findings he said were caused by excessive egg consumption.
Opting for a pay-per-view fight at Tottenham’s 62,850-seater stadium was an ambitious move by promoter Eddie Hearn, so it was little surprise to see Tuesday’s London media event descend into the type of pantomime antics used to lure in the casual observer.
“Conor, I have been meaning to ask you how many eggs you had to eat to fail those drugs tests,” Eubank said during the press conference.
“All you and [promoter] Eddie [Hearn] say is, ‘We are cleared’, but you don’t say how. I am not an academic, but I know one thing – you are a drug cheat.”
It remains a sore point for Benn and before the main press conference he was involved in an angry exchange with a journalist when asked if he was going to use a foreign licence for the fight.
“If somebody starts asking me trick questions, I’ll throw you out of the room,” Benn said. “I’ll drag you by the neck outside and put you outside.”
Eubank, naturally the bigger man, will start as the favourite, with Benn going up to middleweight for the bout. However, a much-criticised rehydration clause will limit how much Eubank can weigh on fight night.
